English and history discusiion

This excerpt from the Bhagavad Gita is in your textbook in 4.7.2: High Culture

Introduction: The Bhagavad-Gita is the highest expression of philosophical Hinduism. It is a chapter in the immense Indian epic, The Mahabharata. In this excerpt the lord Krishna responds to the warrior Arjuna. Arjuna, on the brink of battle, has questioned how it can be right to disrupt the social order by killings one’s kinsmen.

Excerpt from the Bhagavad-Gita

The Supreme Lord said: You mourn for those who deserve no grief, and yet you speak words of wisdom. For the living or the dead wise men know no grief. Never did I not exist, nor you, nor these rulers of men; nor will there be a time in the future when we shall cease to exist. Just as in this bodily form the Self (Soul) experiences childhood, youth and old age, so does it pass into another body (after death). In this, a thoughtful man has no doubts. The sense-contacts, O son of Kunti (Arjuna), which give rise to heat and cold, pleasure and pain, come and go, they are impermanent. Learn to endure them, O Bharata (Arjuna).It is the wise man who is not afflicted by them, who remains undaunted in pain and pleasure, who becomes fit to attain immortality, O chief among men (Arjuna).That which is unreal has no becoming, while the real never ceases to be. Both these have been perceived by the seers of the essence of things (Tattva).But know “That” (Brahman-Tat tvam asi) is indestructible by which the whole (universe) is pervaded. None can bring destruction of That, the Immutable. It is said, that these (our) bodies, indwelt by the Eternal embodied (Soul, the Self) who is eternal, indestructible and unknowable, are finite. Therefore, fight, O Bharata (Arjuna). He who regards that He (the embodied soul) can be a slayer and he who thinks he is slain, both of them are ignorant. He slays not, nor is he slain. He is not born, nor does He ever die. Never did He come to be, nor will he ever come to be again. Unborn, eternal, immutable and primeval, He is not slain when the body is slain. The one who knows Him to be indestructible, eternal, unborn and immutable, how can that man slay, or cause to be slain, O Partha (Arjuna)?Just as a man casts off his worn-out clothes, and puts on other new ones, so the embodied (Soul, Self) casts off his worn-out bodies and enters others, new ones. He (the embodied soul) cannot be cut by weapons, nor burnt by fire, nor waters wet him, nor the wind dry him up. He is uncleavable, unburnable, unwettable, and undryable. He is everlasting, all- pervading, stable, firm, and everlasting. It is said, that He is unmanifest, unthinkable and unchanging. Therefore, knowing He to be so, put away your useless sadness. Even if you believe He is constantly born and constantly dies, even so, O mighty- armed (Arjuna), you should not mourn. To that which is born, death is certain; and to one that dies, birth is certain. Therefore, this being unavoidable, you have no cause to mourn. O Bharata (Arjuna), unseen are the beginnings of beings, their middle course seen, and their end unseen again. So, what is there to mourn over? As a rare privilege may someone see Him, and also by rare privilege may another speak of Him, and as a rare privilege may still another hear Him. But even after all this, none understands Him at all.He, the embodied (Soul, Self) in every one’s body can never be slain, O Bharata (Arjuna). Therefore, it is not proper for you to mourn about any creature. Considering your own (caste) duty (dharma), you should not hesitate. For there is nothing more meritorious for a Ksatriya that a dutiful war. Providential for those Ksatriyas, O Partha, becoming involved in a war like this, presented by pure chance, like an open door to heaven. But if you will not fight this righteous battle, then, abandoning your own duty (dharma) and honour, you will incur sin. People also will always relate your dishonour; and, to one who has been highly honoured, dishonour is more than death. The great chariot– warriors will think that fear withdrew you from the battle; and, though greatly honoured by them before, you will incur their contempt. Your enemies, also, scorning your strength, will talk many abusive

words. Can there be anything more painful than that? Killed, you will attain heaven; victorious, you will enjoy the earth. Therefore, O son of Kunti (O Kaunteya, Arjuna), arise, determined to fight. Take as equal pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat; prepare yourself for battle (your duty). In so doing you will bring no evil to yourself. This, the wisdom that has been taught to you is Sankhya (knowledge). Now listen to the wisdom of Karma–yoga, which possessing, O Partha (Arjuna), you shall cast off the bondage of action. In this there is no loss of effort, or even harm. Even a little of this discipline (dharma) protects one from great fear....Your concern is with the respective action alone; its fruits are never within your control. So, let not the fruit of action be your motive, nor let your attachment be the non- performance of action. O Dhannanjaya (Arjuna), steadfast in devotion perform your action, casting off attachment, remaining the same in success and failure. Equilibrium is called yoga (Karma- yoga).Truly, mere action is far inferior to devotion in wisdom (buddhi-yoga). O Dhananjaya (Arjuna), take refuge in wisdom (buddhi). Piteous are they whose motive is in the fruit (of action). He, who is fixed in wisdom, discards both good and evil works. Therefore, take refuge in yoga (spiritual discipline on the way of oneness with the Supreme Being). Yoga is skill in action. For those wise men united in wisdom, having renounced the fruit of action, liberated from the bonds of birth, they go to that region that knows no ill. When your mind shall pass beyond the veil of delusion, then you will rise to indifference to what has been heard, and what is yet to be heard. When the mind, bewildered by the Scriptures (sruti), stands motionless and still, fixed in contemplation (Samadhi), then you will attain Yoga (union with the divine will).

Source: Philippe L. De Coster, trans. The Bhagavad Gita (In English): The Sacred Song (Belgium: Gita Satsang Ghent Centre, 2006–2007, 2010), pp. 52–65. Copyright © 2006 by Philippe L. De Coster. Reproduced by permission. [editor’s note: This publication intersperses transliterations of Bhagavad Gita verses with word- or phrase-level translations and analysis, and verse-by-verse translations. Only the verse translations are shown here.]